God is not looking for “believers” - He is looking for followers……Don’t focus on “the work” or the outcome of “the work”….Focus on Christ and leave the rest to God

Today at Holy Mass in the Gospel of St John a simple request is given from Jesus to his friends…Its the same request he gives to us today…..”Jesus said to him, What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me”…The disciples were arguing amongst themselves - Sound familiar?…And Jesus simply tells them….Don’t worry about what the other guy is doing…You follow me!……Its very easy to get “caught up” with what others are doing or not doing…Our task is simple - Follow Christ wherever he leads…..The saints show us the way……This morning I was doing my spiritual reading and came across something from one of the saints I follow closely…..Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was a political prisoner in Vietnam for thirteen years…This is what he wrote when he was sitting before the Blessed Sacrament complaining to Jesus how everything he did was met with indifference and did not bear fruit….”It is me you are supposed to be following, not my work. If I will it, you will finish the work entrusted to you. It matters little who takes over your work after you; that is my business. Your business is to choose me”…..We can easily forget that God only wants ONE THING from us - Our sin - The most important thing is we are faithful and follow the Lord……Mother Teresa put it this way……“God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful”…..This is our number one task…..To pray and to do…Leave the rest to God

“I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth”

The saints show us the way!….Our Catholic faith really is very simple….Everything is written down and we have countless saints to read about who can instruct us….Then it is up to us to take what we learn and filter it through our own unique gifts, allowing God to work in and through us…..One of those saints who I pay particular attention to was St Charles De Foucault…..Charles lived in the 19th century…He was born rich and he was a wild man….He wasted everything that was given to him….As he became a young adult he served in the French army in North Africa…There he got some direction and soon after one single Sacrament Confession, Charles turned his entire life around - He regained his Catholic faith and felt called to the priesthood…Charles wanted to serve the people of North Africa, who were Muslim…..For years Charles lived in North Africa and for the most part everything he tried failed….He considered joining a religious order - That failed……..He tried to start a new religious order - That failed…..He tried to convert the people - That failed…..After many years of praying and living as a hermit in North Africa…Charles was murdered by the very people he was TRYING to help….So Charles failed! - RIGHT?……Wrong!…Charles was faithful and while he was alive everything he touched seemed to not work - Once he died, the exact opposite happened….All over the world, the story of his life spread….Associations, prayer fraternities, religious congregations…All molded after his life’s example…..God used Charles but Charles did not see any of the “fruit” of his work…Charles De Foucault succeeded at one thing - He was faithful…In a strange sense, Charles was like a seed, planted in the desert of North Africa….And upon his death…That “seed” grew and grew and grew!….In May of 2022, Pope Francis canonized Charles De Foucault…The “party boy” turned hermit…The guy who failed at everything he tried…Became a saint…God’s ways are not our ways…..Our job is to not focus on “the work” or even the outcome of what we do…Our job is to be faithful…This is our number one task…..To pray and to do…Leave the rest to God

“He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ”

Today we are reminded at Mass by Jesus in the gospel - Our job simply is to be faithful….Don’t worry about the outcome of what you do…Don’t worry about what the “other guy” is doing or not doing…Worry about “remaining on the vine”……Firmly ground your life in First Principals: Daily prayer - Weekly Fasting - Monthly Sacramental Confession - And reception of the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace…Be faithful to those practices in what ever state of life you are in…And leave the rest to God…Give your tasks to Our Lady - Who will “clean them up” and present them to her son….Don’t wait for leaders to do something - YOU DO IT!….And again, its not what we do that matters - Its that we put love into what we do and in the process we remain faithful until the end…..God works in mysterious ways…As he did with St Charles De Foucault…..And he will do the same with you - You watch!…..”Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”……When we are striving to die to ourself, in whatever capacity God calls us to do that…Whether it is serving as a priest, serving as a married man / woman or serving as a single person…No matter! - The task and “the work” is the same in a very real sense…God is not looking for “believers” - He is looking for followers……Don’t focus on “the work” or the outcome of “the work”….Focus on Christ and leave the rest to God